


hold your heart (be still)

by Ro29



Series: the scars that war and childhood leave [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Ahsoka Tano Needs a Hug, CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano Friendship, CT-7567 | Rex is a Good Bro, Can I tag this as fluff?, Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Growing up in a time of War is hard, I continue to have an inconsistent description of the force in every fic i post, Jedi Masters being stupid about their health, Self-Doubt, Spoiler alert: She gets one!, War is Awful, and stressing their padawan out, on second thought no
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:01:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26496838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ro29/pseuds/Ro29
Summary: Commander Tano is hovering just outside the doorway.(or; Padawans were never supposed to grow up during war and it takes it's toll. That's okay though, Rex has always been a brother before he was a Captain.)
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano
Series: the scars that war and childhood leave [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1903012
Comments: 18
Kudos: 234





	hold your heart (be still)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prequel to Chapter 5 of childhood but you don't necessarily have to read that to make this make sense and you can read Chapter 5 without reading this.
> 
> Anyways, welcome back to Ro has 0 self-control and decided to post things.
> 
> No real warnings for this one outside of the side-effects of being involved in a war as a child.
> 
> title from "shallow river" by the crane wives

Commander Tano is hovering just outside the doorway.

Rex closes his eyes, and doesn’t sigh, just sets his DC’s down in front of him, fiddles with the rag he was using to clean them for a second before setting it down next to them.

She’s trying not to interrupt what she knows is his routine, and he appreciates it, but she’s been standing there for only a few minutes and has already graduated from tapping her arms to hugging herself and shifting side to side.

He takes a breath, she’s nervous and fidgeting and hesitant and it doesn’t bode well.

He gives her a quick check over, she doesn’t look injured, and Rex hasn’t seen any new orders or anything that would be causing this. He frowns, “Is there something wrong Commander?”

She startles, arms falling to her side. She bites her lip and opens her mouth. Frowns, closes it, fidgets some more.

This time when he closes his eyes he does sigh, worry and the sharp strike of fear buzzing in his veins. “Sir, am I going to need Commander Cody for this?”

She shifts side to side, “Maybe?” she responds, tense and worried and more a question then anything. “It’s—” she falters, “It’s not deadly.”

It’s not reassuring whatsoever, and the flare of protectiveness that hums through him wants him to put her in medbay and stay there until she tells him what’s wrong.

Rex is a Captain, he’s a good soldier and good soldiers do not question their superiors decisions. But he’s always been a brother first and foremost, and brothers care for their siblings, help them when they can’t figure things out, question when it’s needed.

He stills, beckons her over, and his voice, when he speaks, reveals none of his thoughts, “Okay Sir, tell me what the problem is and then we’ll figure out whether we need to call Cody in.”

She nods, walks over to the table and pushes herself up to sit down on top of it, legs pulled up under her.

“I’m worried about Master Obi-Wan and Skyguy,” she whispers, “I can’t tell what’s wrong, but they both are shielding so much right now, and I _know_ that Skyguy at least got hurt but neither of them have been to the medbay, I _know_ they haven’t I went and checked in with Kix and Helix and—” She sucks in a breath, and Rex holds up a hand.

“Sir,” He starts, eyes on the Commander and the way she's wound tense enough to break, “ _breathe_ , it’ll be okay, but I need you to stay calm. Alright?”

She purses her lips, “Right, I just. I’m so _worried_. Before they slammed all their shields down they were both hurting so bad but neither of them have said anything about it. I don’t think they’ve even talked to _each other_ about it.”

She hesitates, picks at her fingers, “I—I’m not supposed to know, I don’t think, but I figured it out after a while, that even though they still have a bond, they’re so cut off from one another that they have to actually be meditating to talk or check in on each other.”

She glances up helplessly at him, and Rex’s heart aches for her, “They shield so strongly from each other and I don’t know _why_. But it means that I don’t think they know that both of them are hurt and I’m sitting here _useless_ because neither of them will _listen_ to me.”

“ _Breathe_ Commander,” he reminds her and waits as she finds her balance.

She looks small, and young and Rex wants nothing more than to get her as far away from the war as he can.

“I just want them to be okay.” She whispers finally.

Rex stands and pulls her gently into Keldabe, this little sister who’s life is now being shaped by war, and she shakes, wraps her arms around him.

“We’ll fix this Commander,” he tells her, reassuring, “Work through it with me, what’s the problem.”

Her breathing is steady when she answers, though her voice is small, “The problem is that, uhm, Skyguy and Obi-Wan might be injured and they won’t tell anyone and aren’t talking to each other and—”

Rex flicks her side gently, and she cuts herself off, “You’re spiraling again, one problem at a time.”

She breathes, nods, leans back and settles, “Okay, one problem at a time, right, Skyguy and Obi-Wan are both in pain and won’t get help.”

“Okay,” he says, “Now what can you do about it.”

She closes her eyes, “I’ve checked in with medbay already, and I’ve told you, and I talked to—” she wilts, “well I _tried_ talking to them both about it.”

Rex nods, “So you’ve already done everything you could.” he tells her and it takes her a second but she nods.

“Well then, _now_ we call Cody and ask him to help get Kenobi down to medical, hopefully he'll drag Skywalker into it with him. But if he doesn’t we can team up with Kix and get him fixed up, okay Commander?”

She opens her eyes and nods, “Right, okay, that sounds like a plan. I knew I should’ve done that I just—”

She breaks off and looks down at her lap, shame colouring her features.

Rex waits, silent, as she works out her thoughts. When she doesn’t speak again he prompts her, “You just?”

She doesn’t meet his eyes as she answers, “I just wanted to be able to _fix_ it, I wanted to be able to get them to be okay and I wanted to make everything okay and then when I couldn’t it was like everything wrong was so much _worse_.”

Rex is a good soldier, and good soldiers do not tell their superiors when they are wrong, superiors are never wrong if you’re a good soldier. But Rex has millions of little brothers. And he has never been what the Kaminoan’s wanted.

“It’s not bad to want to fix things, Commander, but you need to know when something is too big for you. You need to be able to step back and let others help.” He lifts her head until she meets his eyes, this is important, it needs to be said, he needs to know that she understands. “If you keep putting so much pressure on yourself, not only will it be more harmful to the people you’re trying to help, but you’re gonna crack Commander.”

He sighs, “A tube can only take so much pressure before it shatters.”

She lunges towards him, wraps herself around him and buries her face into his chest, “Okay,” she says, shaky and young, “I’ll know my limits next time.”

He shifts his center of gravity so he doesn’t tip over under her added weight. He sighs, “You don’t have to fix everything,” he tells her, gentle, “You want to help, but don’t wear yourself out either, it’s not your responsibility to fix everything for the Generals,” she makes a sound of protest and he flicks her back gently, “you’re not in charge of them Commander, they have stuff they need to sort out and you can offer help, but don’t rip yourself apart just to get them sorted okay?”

She nods, tightens her grip for a second and then slides down to her feet, “Okay. You’re right Rex, thanks.”

Rex sighs, “Now that that’s sorted, let’s comm Cody.”

The Commander straightens, determination on her face and it makes him feel so proud for a moment.

Now, he just has to hope Cody can convince both of their Generals to stop worrying them all.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to find me other places I have a [writing tumblr](https://rose-blooms-red.tumblr.com) and a [main tumblr](https://themessofthecentury.tumblr.com)
> 
> Please come yell at me about Star Wars and DC


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